Featured Author Rita Karnopp

 

 I am a proud author of 19 books for BWL Publishing Inc. and I've been writing for most of my life.  As a young girl I created stories in my head . . . and they played out like a movie in my mind.  It was the perfect way to escape the hard farmhand work on my aunt and uncle’s farm.  Many years later I had an epiphany – maybe I could write a novel.  With two young children, I often made up stories for them on our way to the grocery store or even on the 3 hour drive to grandma's house.  So I did lots of research and started writing my first children's story.  After finishing my second story, the realization that the children's market was saturated became apparent from publisher comments.  A dear friend and New York best-selling author, Kat Martin, gave me the best advice I’ve ever received; “Write what you love to read.”  The next evening I started writing my Indian historical Whispering Sun.

The story line for Whispering Sun had been bouncing around inside my head for years.  After putting our daughter and son down to sleep, I sat at my kitchen table in front of my Select IBM typewriter (yep – typewriter) and started typing Whispering Sun, which still remains my best seller to-date.

To me there is nothing more exciting than watching my character’s story unfold on the page (screen) as I type as fast as I can to capture their world, words and actions.  These characters don’t always do or say what I think they should – but I never force them to change.  The pleasure of typing ‘The End’ leaves me with a sense of accomplishment and fills me with the revelation I created a book I’d enjoy reading.  Seeing the cover of my first book with my name on it was a dream come true.  I still get that immense rush each time a new book releases with my name on it.

It wasn’t easy.  I’d say that first book was the hardest book I ever wrote.  Why?  Because I didn’t know about pacing, protagonists and antagonists, nor about standard formatting and it goes on and on.  Characters had to develop and had to have reasons for their actions.  I had to be careful of wayward body parts, and I had to make sure the dialog flowed and sounded natural.  Then comes those nasty red-herrings and of course does every character have solutions to their problem?  I learned so much . . . maybe 80 percent of ‘how to write a novel’. . . that it was daunting.  I read an article where Dean Koontz said, “You’re only as good as your next novel.” I knew at that moment the learning to write better and better would always be my goal.

Can you imagine being deaf in 1863?  I felt Sarah Bryson’s anguish and fight for survival as she confronted wild animals, a massacre, ruthless mountain men, treacherous mountain storms, and even Crow Indians bent on revenge.

Whispering Sun captures a time when the Blackfeet are forced to see their way of life disappear. It's a story where it's possible for a white woman to decide she belongs with a loving people and a Blackfeet warrior. It's a story that shows how a half-breed can choose an alliance and find his place in a colliding world.

Nothing is more rewarding or inspires me more to continue writing than to receive a review from a reader - sharing they loved my book.  I was so pleased and touched by the below review for Whispering Sun.

Review: Rita Karnopp has composed both a creative and enduring tale of trials and tribulations that are, oh, too real, and leave an overwhelming impact on the reader. From betrayal, to finding love, she has written a masterpiece that is hard to put down. Cherokee, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

My books can be viewed and purchased by visiting my author page on my publisher's website https://bookswelove.net/karnopp-rita/